The New Zealand and French triathlon communities are shocked after the death of athlete Laurent Vidal.

Vidal's passed away in his sleep in France at the age of 31.

He considered himself 49 percent Kiwi as he was the fiancee and coach of New Zealand's Andrea Hewitt and spent a lot of time living in Christchurch.

His close friend and former Kiwi triathlete James Elvery described it as awful news.

"Andrea called me, and she's handling it quite well, she's able to put sentences together but obviously quite shocked."

Laurent Vidal suffered a cardiac arrest while swimming in 2014 that ended his racing career.

James Elvery said despite the setback Vidal was in an awesome place.

"He'd kind of come to terms with that, that he had to stop, and really got stuck into his coaching and was really enjoying it. He had big plans for the future."

He finished fifth at the London Olympics, and Elvery said "seeing his positivity, and just that relentless pursuit of the gold medal for both of them was just so inspirational."